Kaya was sitting on the floor of the fancy bathroom, her knees pulled closed and her face buried in them. She was trying very hard to just breathe. She knew she was having a panic attack and she couldn't do anything about it. She knew she could call Sylvian, but she was so tired of just falling apart in front of that man so many times in just twenty four hours.
However, in her attempt to calm herself, she lost track of time and didn't hear the knock on the bedroom door, or someone softly calling her. She only realised someone was there when the knock came again on the bathroom door followed by that soft voice again.
"Miss Kaya? Are you in there?"
It wasn't Sylvian's voice, it was someone else. Kaya couldn't guess who it was, so she just replied softly.
"Yeah."
"It's Oliver Brown, Ma'am," the reply came from outside the door. "Mr. Park's assistant. I was just here to check on you. Are you ok?"
Kaya stared at the bathroom doorway for a moment before standing up and wiping her face.
"Can I come in, Ma'am?" asked Oliver from outside the bedroom door.
"Yeah, in a moment," Kaya walked over to the sink, wanting to wash her face but then remembered she still didn't know how to start the water. Frustrated, Kaya just wiped her face again, walked out of the bathroom and opened the bedroom door.
Oliver, Sylvian's assistant, smiled softly at me but paused looking at the state of my face.
"Are you ok?" He asked again. He pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and glanced down at my clothes – the clothes I had been wearing since this morning. "Mr. Park asked me to see if you were settling in ok, and if the clothes I picked for you, actually worked for you."
"I –" Kaya looked back at the walk-in closet. "I'm not sure about the clothes. I actually didn't go through them."
"It's ok, I will help you," Oliver smiled softly. He didn't miss how Kaya avoided the question about if she was ok, again. "I'm not only Mr. Park's assistant from now on. I'm your assistant too. Mr. Park had ordered me very clearly. So anything you want help with and anything that needs to be done for his family, I will handle it. You only need to ask."
Kaya stared at Oliver's smiling face then sighed softly. Her shoulders dropped.
"Thank you," Kaya said and was about to say everything was fine, then finally asked. "Oliver, can you show me how to turn on the bathroom tap?"
Kaya knew how stupid it sounded. She almost expected Oliver to laugh or at least act like he was trying not to laugh. But neither of those things happened, instead Oliver looked very serious and stepped inside the room. "Of course. Follow me."
He walked to the bathroom with Kaya following him behind quietly. Oliver reached the sink and reached behind the white swan showpiece beside the sink. He twisted the swan's wing and water fell from its mouth. And Kaya's mouth fell open. Oliver noticed it and laughed softly.
"It's complicated, isn't it?" Oliver said. "I told the interior designer exactly that but he said it looked pretty so . . ."
"So . . . it didn't matter if it was functional?" Kaya asked, almost smiling because of how ridiculous it was and she was glad Oliver thought so too.
"Yeah, that's rich people for you. Most of their things are just there to look pretty not to be functional," Oliver said chuckling and Kaya laughed softly with him. "Don't tell the boss I said that."
"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Kaya said smiling. "Thanks for showing me this."
"You are most welcome," Oliver smiled warmly. "I should leave for you to freshen up then. There are many types of sleepwear on the right side of the closet. I wasn't sure which would be more comfortable for you, so I got two of each type. Do you want me to show you?"
"Sleepware too, huh? Let me guess, they also cost a fortune each," Kaya sighed softly.
"Yeah," Oliver smiled sheepishly. "Boss gave me permission so I went all out. Sorry, I know I should have asked about what kind of style you like and everything. I'm also sorry if the size isn't perfect. I just went with whatever looked right. The sleepwares are oversized for comfort, so they should be safe."
I rubbed my forehead and sighed a little while listening to him. Oliver instantly read the gesture.
"Sorry, you must be exhausted and overwhelmed tonight. You know what, I will come back tomorrow with the rest of – whatever I was going to say. You rest tonight," Oliver said, already stepping out of the bathroom. "Oh, and I brought Italian food as the boss asked me to bring dinner for two. I hope you like it. Just call me if you need anything. I have written down mine and boss's number here." He pulled out a folded paper and put it down on the desk in the bedroom. "See you tomorrow, Ma'am."
"Thank you Oliver," Kaya said again and Oliver nodded and left, closing the bedroom door after him.
Kaya took a deep breath and breathed out slowly as if gathering herself. Then she washed her face and went to the walk-in closet to find those sleepwares. She quickly realised Oliver wasn't joking when he said he got two of every sleepwear he could find. There were a lot of silk, frills and colours. After looking through them for a minute, Kaya found a soft light green pajama set – silk of course, and changed into it.
She quietly walked out after that and made her way downstairs. She found Sylvian already there, sitting on the dining table chair. He was looking at his phone but looked up when he heard her.
"Kaya, please have a seat," He said gesturing to the seat across from him in that same flat voice he used which Kaya was starting to realize was his normal voice.
Kaya walked over and sat down. Sylvian stood up and opened the lid of the pot on the middle of the table, smoke drifted out instantly.
"Oliver brought lasagna, some spaghetti and garlic bread. I asked him to bring something generic, since I'm not sure what you like," Sylvian said, picking up the spatula and starting to plate the lasagna. He paused looking up at Kaya. "You aren't allergic to anything here, right?"
Kaya didn't answer instantly, she was so surprised at the ease Sylvian started plating the food and the genuinely thoughtful way he thought about her was such a foreign thing to her. She shook her head after a moment. "Umm . . . No. Thanks for asking. The food looks great."
Sylvian nodded seriously.
"I just heat it up, no need to thank me," Sylvian said, putting the first plate he just made in front of Kaya. Then she made his plate and sat down. "I'm allergic to cats and dogs mostly. Not very severe, but sometimes it has a bit of an effect on me. In case anyone asks or talks to you about it."
"Got it," Kaya nodded, understanding why Sylvian was telling her this. She picked up the fork and started eating. "Now we should rehearse our stories, yes?"
"Yes, with other things. First of all, Date of births. I'm born on 12th November," Sylvian said, as he started to eat. "I'm 28 years old. And I already know your date of birth, 21st February, right?"
"Yeah," Kaya nodded, looking down at her food. "You know everything about it at this point."
"Not everything. Just the basic information on paper and some of your money problems," Sylvian corrected without sounding condescending. He kept eating. "Now, onto other things."
[To be continued]